buckie

1871Amer. Agric. 30.293 NEng, The Alewife (Alosa tyrannus) belongs to the great family of herrings (Clupeidæ). . . It bears the name of Gaspereau in Canada, Buckie and Alewife in New England, and Herring in the Middle and Southern States.1877BartlettAmericanisms 71 wCT,Buckey, an alewife.1896DN 1.413 RI,Buckies . . buckboard herring. [DARE Ed: The significance of “buckboard” here is unexplained; it may simply be an error.]1908Bohemian 15.544 RI, West of the bridge are the rapids, where, in the springtime, the villagers repair to “dip” for “buckies.”1910Norwich Bulletin(CT) 23 Mar 6/3, The troublesome buckie flies have appeared and soon buckies will furnish favorite fishing sport.1931–33LANE WorksheetsRI,Bucky—A slim salt-water fish; cooked fresh or smoked. Same size as scup, very bony.Ibid, Bucky—A species of saltwater herring.IbidCT,Bucky—A variety of fish. A bonefish is similar to a bucky.1941CT Geol. & Nat. Hist. Surv.Bulletin 63.214, The best Connecticut examples may be found in the shad (Alosa) and the alewife or buckeye (Pomobolus pseudoharengus).1950 (1976)LeonardFlies 290 csCT, Several of the big rivers and many of the smaller streams that run to the sea are well known for their shad and “buckie” (a kind of herring or alewife) runs in the spring. . . The buckie run precedes the shad run and may be taken as advance notice that the shad will be in soon.1995Verbatim 21.3.5 RI, Herring? Yes, but locally called buckeyes. . . [I]n Rhode Island this would be pronounced . . “buckee.”2008 in 2016DARE File—InternetCT, When I brought the fish to hand it was an [sic] 10 inch river herring. [Resp:] You mean like buckies? Alewives or bluebacks?2011Ibid RI, [Transcript of interview:] You know, it was a big time . . even for kids in my generation, to go out there when, they called them “buckies” here. They didn’t call them alewives, they called them buckies. And there was a stream, a brook in Warwick, for example, that was called Bucky Brook. [DARE Ed: The official spelling for the stream is “Buckeye Brook.”] 2013IbidseCT, These once bountiful runs of alewives and blueback herring (we called them buckeyes) are a major food source for Osprey, but they are dying out at an alarming rate in Connecticut.2016IbidRI, Ultimate responsibility for the complete collapse of river herring lies with the “managers” tasked with maintaining this critical coastal resource. On that positive note—only 60 days or so until the first buckies swim into RI.